1044 



Canadian Forestry Journal, April, 1917 



The Great Forests of Russia 



Republican Government will Administer the World's Greatest 

 Timber Supply — Siberia can Supply Whole of Europe. 



The political overthrow of the 

 "dark forces" in Russia and the 

 promise of a more vigorous develop- 

 ment of the national resources under 

 republican rule, draws attention to 

 the advantageous position of the 

 Russian Empire in supplying the 

 future timber needs of Europe. 



Russia possesses the world's great- 

 est supply of forest wealth. The value 

 and quality of fully two-thirds of it, 

 however, are but meagrely known. 

 The total area of the Empire is about 

 one seventh of the land surface of 

 the globe and 39 per cent, of it is 

 under forests. Those in European 

 Russia cover an area of 474,000,000 

 acres; in Finland, 50,500,000 acres; 

 in Poland, 6,700,000 acres; and in the 

 Caucasus, 18,600,000 acres; a total of 

 549,800,000 acres, exclusive of Siberia. 

 It is estimated that in western Siberia 

 alone there are 465,000,000 acres of 

 virgin forest, and that Eastern Siberia, 

 while not so richly endowed, has 

 sufTicient timber to supply the world's 

 demand for years to come. 



Approximately twenty-three per 

 cent of the forest land belongs to the 

 aristocracy and 9 per cent to the 

 peasantry. 



The Russian Government owns the 

 bulk of the forest assets and has re- 

 ceived about $30,000,000 a year, four- 

 fifths of which was net profit. 



As in nearly every other country 

 where 'old fashioned' lumbering has 

 its way, Central Russia now sees the 

 timber wealth pretty well stripped, 

 so that lumbermen are turning their 

 attention to northern Russia where 

 more primitive timber conditions pre- 

 vail. 



While Russia founded her Depart- 

 ment of Forestry and the Imperial 

 Forest Institute at Petrograd 110 

 years ago, no comprehensive scheme 

 of national forest management has 

 yet been applied. Facilities for the 

 training of foresters have been pro- 

 vided at the capital where 54 pro- 

 fessors and instructors are employed, 

 with 648 students, and an annual 

 government appropriation of about 

 $120,000. The Forest Institute con- 

 tains 23 buildings, 13 laboratories and 

 museums and a splendidly equipped 

 dendrological garden in addition to 

 several hundred acres of ground sur- 

 rounding the buildings. 



There has been in possession of the 

 Government at Petrograd for some 

 years a plan for the cutting of timber 

 on a large scale worked out by the 

 Russian Committee for Colonization, 

 but like other reforms in the manage- 

 ment of the public estate this had been 

 shelved for 'further consideration'. 



Foreign capitalists have taken up 

 immense tracts of timber in Siberia. 

 "With correct exploitation", writes a 

 French investigator, the timber of 

 Siberia will suffice for the require- 

 ments of western Europe for genera- 

 tions to come." The Forestry De- 

 partment places the Siberian timber 

 lands at 810,000,000 acres, and with 

 the present population this is 43 acres 

 per capita, which the Russian forest- 

 ers believe can safely be reduced to 

 three acres per capita. 



What this immense resource really 

 means is shown in the estimate of the 

 Forestry Department that Siberia 

 can spare 115,200,000 trees per an- 

 num, under proper reforestation 

 methods without diminishing the 

 capital stock of timber. One hundred 



